Important Current Affairs from (19-07-2017 & 20-07-2017)

National News:-

1)Kolkata to host global business meet in Nov:-

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in association with the West Bengal government, will host Horasis Asia Meeting, a global business meet, in Kolkata in November.
• The two-day business meet, starting November 26, will focus on sustainable business practices in various areas, including power and energy, said Shashwat Goenka, President, ICC.
• Goenka has been recently elected President of the industry body.

2)Venkaiah’s portfolios distributed between Smriti Irani, Tomar:-

The portfolios of M. Venkaiah Naidu, the vice-presidential candidate of the National Democratic Alliance, were reallocated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani was given additional charge of Information and Broadcasting, while Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar took over the Urban Development Ministry.

3)J&K bags best award in adventure tourism destination:-

The J&K Tourism Department has received the award in the category of ‘Best Adventure Tourism Destination and Eco-Tourism Destination’ at a 3-Day event organized by Indian International Travel Mart, Chennai.
• Deputy Director Tourism (Publicity) Peerzada Zahoor who was representing the J&K State received the award.
• During the Travel Mart, J&K stall which was beautifully decorated attracted huge visitors mostly locals and travel agents.

4)Shala Siddhi Prohatsan Yojana started in 25,000 MP schools:-

In order to provide qualitative education to the students, ‘Hamari Shala Kaisi Ho’ and ‘Shala Siddhi Karyakram’ are being implemented by the School Education department in Government schools of Madhya Pradesh.

The State Education Centre has started Shala Siddhi Prohatsan Yojana to encourage best works under this programme.

The Shala Siddhi Prohatsan Yojana has been started in 25,000 schools of the State till date.

5)Kerala emerge champs at national inter-state meet:-

Kerala emerged champions with 159 points as the 57th National Inter-State Championships ended on a high note at the Acharya Nagarjuna University ground in Guntur.

Tamil Nadu (110) came on second position and Haryana (101) on third. at the end of the 4-day event.

Anu R. (400m, Kerala) finished the championships as the best woman athlete with 1105 points while Davinder Singh Kang (Javelin Throw, Punjab) was the top athlete among men with 1127 points.

International News:-

1)Nelson Mandela International Day – 18 July:-

Nelson Mandela International Day (or Mandela Day) is celebrated every year on 18th July to honour the former Nobel Prize winner.
• The United Nations officially declared this day in November 2009. Mandela was former President of South Africa.

2)South Korea launches contest in Chandigarh to promote tourism:-

To promote South Korea as a tourist destination, its government is involving school students in Chandigarh and of nearby cities in a contest.

Tourism contributes five per cent to South Korea’s Gross Domestic Product. On an average 200,000 tourists from India visit the country every year.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has been the Goodwill Ambassador of South Korea since April 2014.

3)India among 5 countries that faced most terror attacks in 2016:-

More than half of the terror attacks in the world in 2016 took place in five countries, including India and Pakistan, a senior US counter-terror official has said.

The total number of terror attacks in 2016 were lower than in 2015.

Fifty-five per cent of all attacks took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, and 75 per cent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

4)Australia joins International Solar Alliance:-

Australia became the 35th country to join the International Solar Alliance, an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2015 in Paris.

It is co-led by India and France.

The aim was to support developing countries to boost their solar production capacity.

The solar alliance, whose head office is in India, has grown stronger in the past two years with more countries joining the group and signing the agreement.

Economic News:-

1)Cabinet approves selling 51% stake in HPCL to ONGC:-

The Cabinet has given an in-principle approval to sell the government’s entire 51.11 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd to Oil and Natural Gas Corp in a bid to create a state-run integrated oil major that can compete with private and foreign players.

ONGC chairman Dinesh Sarraf said the shareholders of both companies would gain from the deal.

The combined market value of ONGC and HPCL would be $42 billion.

2)Google launches job applicant management tool ‘Hire’:-

Google officially released a new tool named ‘Hire’ to help small and medium sized businesses recruit talent.

The service is built on G Suite and will allow employers to track candidates’ contact information, resume details and calendar invites.

It will allow business partners to share feedback within the candidate’s profile.

3)RBI has set up an Enforcement Department (EFD):-

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that they have set up an Enforcement Department (EFD).
• EFD would serve as a centralised department to speed up regulatory compliance.
• EFD has been set up to separate those who oversee the possible rule breaches and those who decide on punitive actions so that enforcement process operates fairly and is evidence based.
• The EFD has become functional with effect from April 03, 2017.

4)India is among the fastest growing economies: World Bank:-

According to the World Bank’s latest edition of the Global Economic Prospects, India is the fourth fastest growing economy in the world.
• The World Bank has pegged India’s growth rate at 7.2 for the current year on the back of rising export and increase in government spending.
• In terms of growth rate, India is placed behind smaller economies of Estonia, Uzbekistan and Nepal.